KC's Palko to get his shot against the Pats

As Kansas City Chiefs coach Todd Haley sees it, Tyler Palko and Matt Cassel have a "similar skill set." For Cassel, now Kansas City's quarterback but once the Patriots' backup, he waited until his fourth season to see significant game action. His opportunity finally came in the 2008 season opener, when Tom Br...

For Cassel, now Kansas City's quarterback but once the Patriots' backup, he waited until his fourth season to see significant game action. His opportunity finally came in the 2008 season opener, when Tom Brady suffered a left-knee injury that made him New England's starter.

The well-traveled Palko, however, has taken a more roundabout route to his first NFL start. In last week's loss to the Broncos, Cassel suffered an injury to his right hand that is likely a season ender. More immediately, that meant he would not make his triumphant return to Gillette Stadium with the 4-5 Chiefs on Monday night (ESPN, 8:30 p.m.).

Instead, nearly five years and six teams since his last college start as a Pitt Panther, the southpaw gets his chance.

"I think Tyler is very similar to Cassel, except he's left-handed," Patriots head coach Bill Belichick said yesterday. "The same type of guy - a hardworking guy that is smart, that has a lot of confidence - I think they have a lot of confidence in him."

More confidence, apparently, than five other organizations had in him. A three-year starter at Pittsburgh (2004-06), Palko is below only Dan Marino on the Panthers' career passing yardage list. In 2005, Palko won the starting job over Joe Flacco, prompting Flacco to transfer to the University of Delaware. Flacco is now in his fourth year as the Baltimore Ravens' starter.

Palko went undrafted in 2007, though, eventually signing a free-agent deal with the New Orleans Saints. He was waived prior to the 2008 season, and so began his nomadic professional life. After sitting out 2008, he followed that up by suiting up with the Arizona Cardinals, the UFL's California Redwoods, the CFL's Montreal Alouettes and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Chiefs picked up the western Pennsylvania native in 2010. Now 28, his mop-up duty in two seasons with Kansas City has yielded a 9 for 13, 82-yard career stat line.

"I'm not a big quote guy, but this thing is a marathon and not a sprint and sometimes you have to scrape the bottom before you can reap the benefits," Palko said on a conference call yesterday.

"Whether you want to be a teacher, a garbage man, whatever you want to do - there's no blueprint on getting where you want to go," he added. "There are obstacles, there's adversity you need to overcome and it's just the way life is."

Patriots linebacker Rob Ninkovich, another player who took a circuitous route to his current NFL job, can relate to Palko.

"I played with him. I think '07, which was his rookie year, he was in New Orleans with me," said Ninkovich, who had two stints with the Saints and a year with the Dolphins before coming to Foxboro. "Obviously, he's stuck around the league for a while, he had a good college career at Pittsburgh, so he's obviously a good quarterback who can make the good throws."

Page 2 of 2 - The prep work for an unknown commodity of sorts is a bit different, however. In other words, Patriots defensive coaches have to dig up some footage this week, seeing as Palko's NFL body of work is slim.

"With Palko coming in and stepping in, you've got to go back to the preseason tape, see some of the things that he did," Ninkovich said. "It's going to be a little bit different, but we've still got to prepare well for him."

Even with Cassel at quarterback, the Chiefs have been anything but a high-flying attack. They are 27th in the league in passing offense, but 10th in rushing as fourth-year back Jackie Battle (403 yards) carries the load in the absence of Jamaal Charles (torn ACL).

Brady is sympathetic toward his former backup.

"Well just for him being injured," Brady said. "It sucks to be injured. ... He's a tough guy - he's as tough as anybody I've ever been around. I was disappointed for him that he won't be able to be out there."

Now, Palko gets the chance that both Brady and Cassel once got.

"I guess it's been a long time coming, but I guess when you're really entrenched in it, you really don't think about how long it is," Palko said. "You set a goal and my goal was to be a starter in the NFL and I'm getting my opportunity right now."

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After collecting a franchise-record 4.5 sacks in Sunday night's win over the Jets, Patriots defensive end Andre Carter was named the AFC's Defensive Player of the Week yesterday.

(Tim Whelan Jr. is a Daily News staff writer. He can be reached at twhelan@wickedlocal.com or 508-626-4402.)